Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: July 3, 2011

Published 3 years ago
by
Niall Browne
, Updated August 7th, 2013 at 8:42 am,

This week:

Transformers 3 blows away the competition, while Hanks and Roberts fail to capture the box office Crowne; Thomas Jane is howling mad that he didn’t get to star in Headshot but he does get to capture The Lycan; just like we predicted – Stiller and Vaughn take onNeighborhood Watch; Drew Barrymore lives in a Heist Society and Beyonce was born a Star - but was Leonardo DiCaprio?

It’s July 4th weekend and that means it’s a bonanza at the box office. The weekend saw director Michael Bay reunite with star Shia LaBeouf (but not Megan Fox, who has been replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as the non-CGI eye candy) for the third film in the mega successful franchise which is based on the Hasbro toys of yesteryear- (read Transformers: Dark of the Moon review). The pricey 3D pic scored an estimated $97 million over the three days. That means that the film is on target to bank $115 million over the four day weekend or a massive $180 million since its Tuesday launch. A worldwide gross of $400 million is already in the kitty.

Fellow talking car movie – Cars 2 is on track to gross around $24.7 million over the weekend ($30.5 million over the four days). The Disney Pixar film has now banked $121 million since it opened last week.

Cameron Diaz’s Bad Teacher is holding up well and showing okay legs (have you seen the poster?). The raunchy comedy grossed $14 million over the weekend ($17.5 million over the four days) for a $62 million total. It might finish its run just shy of $100 million, but could cross the barrier if it stabilizes in the coming weeks.

Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts’ Larry Crowne had a very disappointing debut. The bankable A-listers failed to impress in the economic comedy. Crowne, which is co-written, produced, and directed by Hanks should close the weekend with $13.5 million ($16.7 million over the four days) and all involved will be hoping that it holds up well in the future – a strong possibility since it’s an adult-oriented comedy. Fingers crossed.

Monte Carlo was positioned as chick-friendly counter-programming to the wham bam action of Transformers. The film did little to trouble the grosses of Michael Bay and company because it will see in the weekend with only $7.5 million ($9.5 million over the four days).

Green Lantern banked another $7 million over the weekend for a smidgen under $10 million over the four day weekend. A sequel has been announced, but this superhero film is starting to fade with a cumulative gross of just $104 million.

Super 8 should see the weekend in with another $6.7 million in the till, or a little over $8 million over the four days. The Abrams/Spielberg joint has now banked nearly $109 million.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins should steal around $5 million from moviegoer’s pockets ($6 million over the four days) for a $51 million total. Meanwhile, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Bridesmaids rounded out the top ten. The sleeper hits have now scored $34 million and $153 million respectively.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides may have dropped out of the top ten, but the film has now crossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office. This is the second Pirates, third Johnny Depp, and fourth Disney film in history to cross the mark. Congratulations on such sterling business acumen.

1. We’ve been bringing you news that actor Thomas Jane was dumped from the Sylvester Stallone film Headshot. The news was mainly innuendo and gossip, but now Jane has spoken out about his departure from the Walter Hill directed actioner.

The following is from an exchange that The Mist star had with Frosty at Collider:

JANE: Well, Wayne Kramer brought me into the project and when Wayne left the project I suggested Walter Hill to Stallone and the next week they hired Walter Hill and I was very happy about that because I’ve always wanted to work with him.

But then did the studio sort of…

JANE: Well, Joel Silver came onboard the project and said that he has a quote-unquote ‘formula’ for these quote-unquote ‘buddy movies’ and it has to be a white guy and a quote-unquote ‘ethnic guy.’ And they relieved me of duty and basically paid me off, which I was really upset about, you know? I didn’t get a call from Stallone. I was a little upset about that. Maybe they didn’t want anybody on the movie with a bigger d*$k than him.

Wayne Kramer was sort of abruptly fired from that film too. Was it over him being too violent? Because I’ve been told that it’s still an R-rated movie and Stallone’s comment was that [Kramer had] made a [script] that was too violent and that they were doing something that was a little less extreme.

JANE: Well, Wayne Kramer is very dark, very extreme, which I personally like. But I know that Stallone is a bit more of a traditionalist. That doesn’t make it worse it just makes it different. Walter Hill for my money was the man to fulfill both. He can do great with character and he’s great with action. So he is the man…I hope they can still make a great film without me.

However, it’s not as if the Hung star will be resting on his laurels, he’s starring as country star Glen Sherley for director Billy Bob Thornton, he’s got a 3D western in development and a werewolf horror film titled The Lycan, which is “basically Alien, set in a castle, with werewolves”.

Jane’s a cool guy and it’s a shame that he won’t be going toe to toe with Stallone. While he’s never made it on to the A-list, Jane has managed to star in a wide range of films – many of which cater to the “geek” audience (Deep Blue Sea is definitely a guilty pleasure).

Oh, and The Lycan sounds cool – as long as they go the practical effects route and pass on the CGI!

Vince Vaughn is now in negotiations to join Ben Stiller in Neighborhood Watch! Coincidence? You tell us.

According to THR:

“Akiva Schaffer is directing the sci-fi comedy about a suburban “neighborhood watch” group that serves as a front for dads to get some male-bonding time away from their families. The group finds itself in over its head when it uncovers a plot to destroy the world”.

The pair starred together in Starsky & Hutch, Anchorman, Dodgeball and Zoolander.

3. We also previously reported that Shauna Cross had been tapped to adapt Ally Carter’s bookThe Heist Society for the screen. Now we have news that Drew Barrymore is attached to produce with and possibly direct the film.

THR states:

“The book follows a young woman named Katarina Bishop who hails from an extended family of cat burglars and master thieves. The girl leaves her illicit life behind, but when her father is the prime suspect in the case of a mobster’s missing art collection, she assembles a crew to track down the art and steal it back.”

Heist Societywill age-up the characters from their teens to their twenties.

4. Beyonce Knowles and Leonardo DiCaprio are the latest names to be associated with Warner Bros. long gestating fourth remake of A Star is Born.

The film, which is set to be directed by Clint Eastwood has the potential to be a major hit at the box office, as well as during awards season, and now the former Destiny’s Child singer has confirmed her involvement in the film:

Speaking on Good Morning America Knowles said:

“Clint Eastwood? Can you believe that? I can’t believe it still. When I met with him I was just in awe. I’m so, so honoured that he believes in me. And I can’t wait to do this film.”

DiCaprio is currently working with Eastwood on J.Edgarso, it’ll be interesting to see if he is willing to saddle-up and make another film with the artist formerly known as Rowdy Yates.

Thomas Jane proves that he’s a really big d–k with his petty, juvenile comments. He bashes both Sylvester Stallone and Sung Kang with that schoolboy rant of his.

While it’s bad for anyone to be dropped or fired from a film project, it does happen more than is reported, and it’s part of the biz. I don’t know why Jane gets so much news exposure for his complaints. I hope this does hurt his career, as similar rants hurt Megan Fox.

Besides, as if Jane hasn’t been benefitting all these years from who he is. He’s really coming off as sour grapes here. And the implications behind his “big d” statement are really low class.

Could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the D^^k thing was a joke given that he stars on a TV show called hung where the premise is that he has a big D^^k.

As far as the rest he has every right to be upset he dropped from the movie not because he didn’t fit the part or because the wasn’t gonna get paid enough, but because he was white and they decided they wanted someone Ethnic suddenly.

I give him that he should be upset for being dropped at all. Which actor (unless they really didn’t care for a role) wouldn’t be mad that he’d be dumped?

I saw him quoted as being mad for being replaced with an “ethnic guy.” I have little sympathy. It was a direction that the director wanted to go with, in terms of a fictional character. I’m sure he had no problem with him getting roles largely because he’s a white guy. For the longest time, and still now, practically all the cards have been stacked in favor of white actors. Just look at all the unknowns being pushed into the higher heights of potential stardom (receiving role after role) despite not even being stars.

Perhaps his “big d” comment was a just a reference to himself and that show (a bit of wallowing in self pity) or his “big d” comment was not only a dig at Stallone, but, even worse, a dig at Sung Kang being of Asian descent (I imagine you know the stereotype about Asian guys).

Whatever his intent, he didn’t have to be such a little, whiny brat about it. Not that everyone responds to everything in the same way, I remember how Stewart Townsend was basically fired from the role of Aragorn in the LOTR trilogy (replaced by Viggo Mortensen), which I imagine is far, far worse than being replaced on Headshot, but Townsend was obviously mad, but he didn’t go around throwing around schoolyard talk.

Jane sounds like sour, sour grapes, a white actor full of himself and with a grand sense of entitlement. It sounds like he needs to eat some humble pie.

Woah. Joke or not, that was a pretty bad-sounding line from Thomas Jane. Still, not many people sound “cool” when they’re obviously peeved. He probably should just have said “no comment!” until he had some time to clear his head.

Good on Transformers 3 at least making more than the first movie. I am hoping it will still oust Transformers 2 as far as overall grosses, but that will depend on the second weekend.

Congratulations to the Pirates 4 cast and crew, they must be proud (too bad the movie was mediocre). Now, on another note, Transformers 3 was soooooo BAD I just took my 3D glasses off when the first hour ended and started to play Angry Birds.

i agree. transformers 3d did kicked ass and it was better than avatar 3d in my opinion. people just hate this movie because they hate michael bay.i f christopher nolan or james cameron directed it, i guarantee you guys will praise it as the best movie of the year.

I’m amazed because I think you’re being serious…”Avatar” blows away any 3d competitors (including a film that relied on James Cameron’s advice and help to come with its own 3d, as TF3 did).

I do not hate Michael Bay; I’ve enjoyed a number of his movies. In fact, I gave TDotM 3 stars, because of the effects of the robots fighting. The movie, as a whole however, was awful: The plot (I use that term extremely generously and loosely) was silly; the characterizations were virtually nil; various occurrences were groan-worthy, if not outright assinine (Cybertron comes partway through the spacebridge, but NO ATMOSPHERIC, GEOLOGICAL, OR OCEANIC CATASTROPHES HAPPEN ON EARTH! REALLY?!?); the robot warriors, themselves, were not played particularly consistently; Optimus Prime GIVES the Matrix to Sentinel Prime WHO DOESN’T TAKE IT (WE don’t know he’s a betrayer by that point, but HE does). WHERE did the Autobots hide once they escaped seeming death by actually being in the booster…Did the booster land and provide them with a hiding place…Did NO HUMAN military or space unit go to retrieve such an expensive piece of equipment? How did Optimus survive so long caught in those wires without once being attacked by the OTHERWISE swarming Decepticons?

I realize that it’s a Michael Bay pic, but, really, even HE doesn’t normally make such incredibly stupid mistakes in most of his films DUMB things, yes…STUPID? Not usually. Plus, are we really giving him this BIG a pass just because our ten year-old selves got to see giant friggin’ robot battles? REALLY?

The first Transformers movie wasn’t perfect and had a lot of dumb things, BUT it was GOOD as well as being fun. “Super 8″ (not a Bay pic, I KNOW) had the nostalgic, “gee-whiz” factor AND was a great film. TDotM failed at most things it attempted.

Now, someone might call me out on the fact I gave this a three…”Why wouldn’t you give it a 1 if you (obviously) hated it so much?” That’s just it; I DIDN’T hate it. It disappointed me immensely, on many levels. HOWEVER, I did have that “gosh & golly gee” feeling WHILE I was watching it on the screen…just not afterward. I liked the new companion for Sam (Sam was an annoying pain, on the other hand). Alan Tudyk was fantastic (as always), as was Frances McDormand. I also liked Josh Duhamel and several of the other characters…NONE of which were developed. A number of the fight scenes were MUCH clearer than any battles in the other two movies…what a shame that a number of the battles in this movie were so piss-poor.

Most importantly, I just really love the Transformers.

THIS was not a worthy movie to showcase them and CERTAINLY was not the way to end the trilogy about their struggles (Oh, that’s another thing: THE MOVIE DID NOT END…It just sort of “went away”.

Most of his complaints are mine as well. I also gave the movie 3/5 because I thought the CGI and action was first rate, but the movie as a whole suffered. I like humor but when it’s idiotic humor it just takes me out of the film.

Having seen Transformers 3 I can say that it was good for what it was: pure dumb fun, nothing more, nothing less.
It helpede that my friends and I were making fun of the movie as we watched it and that we read an article the other day (this one:http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/06/29/transformers-optimus-prime/)
that said how the film series turned Optimus from a true hero that he was in the show to a homicidal maniac who gets off on killing Decepticons. We couldn’t stop laughing as soon as we saw what the writer was talking about.

And I’m really not looking forward to A Star Is Born. I’ve yet to see a good Eastwood movie since Letters from Iwo Jima, I’m not at all impressed with Beyonce as an actress, that movie has been remade to many times already, and it sounds a lot like the upcoming Black & White silent French film The Artist.

transformers 3 was pretty s*** imo, the pacing was off, action was lacking, and the stupid humour killed the seriousness of the final hour. some of the special effects where off (the tentacle haired robot was supposed to throw a car, but we see the car fly after he swings his arm is one obvious screw up). the acting was pretty crap (to be honest the only decent acting was done by the blonde girl). there where quite a few continuity errors that stood out, such as why optimus was stuck amongst the cranes for 10+ minutes and no one could see him even tough he was in plain sight.

i would give it a 2/5 and that’s only b/c of the special effects and some of the action scenes. nothing more.

Saw Transformers 3 last night and while the action was good, the movie (in lack of a better word) dragged. The pacing was deathly slow, Micheal Bay “guy jokes” are getting out of hand, and the plot holes. My oh my, the plot holes. The film’s runtime would have been better served if it was closer to 100 min.

Though the action scenes in T2& T3 are great, IMHO the first Transformers movie stands as the best of the series in terms of overall plot. I can actually watch that film w/o wanting to just fast forwarding between action scenes.

TF3 was good I hated the 3d.it was my first 3d movie and I think it was unnecessary.to me it didn’t make the movie any better.my 14 year old and 9 year old loved it but like me they didn’t like the 3d.I hope this fad goes away soon.

Transformers 3 is definitely not worth the ticket price of 3D. The film itself is marginally better than TF2 and that’s not saying much. Michael Bay really is a shallow director with a narrow view of the world. I can not recommend this film.

man i cant understand all the hate on this movie, how u did not love it is beyond me, what did u come in there to c oscar nominated acting or a over the top robot movie with explosions bc thats what it is nothing more nothing less. michale bay did a amazing job with these movies, no one could have done it better. the acting was fine, story good, action amazing, and the 3d was pretty dam impresive, compared to anything but avatar.

Don’t know about you guys,but the other day the trailer was on tv, I was watching and there goes same again yelling “OPTIMUS”….again, how many times does say that per movie..and is it me or does he sound like some mid pubescent punk every time he yells for help.

Guess I’m just tired of them shoving sam in there and his relationshipss or other boring aspects of his fictional life when all a care about is the transformers themselves

…maybe that’s why the first is better?because it took a group of people to advance the plot,from the soldier dudes,the tech chick to her friend played by anthony anderson they were interesting to follow, they all had something to contribute

soldiers…well nuff said,tech chick and friend,tech stuff,S7 guy,S7,Secretary of defense,he’s the SOD,Makayla can fix cars,sam?well he can call out for help and act like a dweeb,that and his voice sorta resembles young screech from saved by the bell at times.

don’t if i’m gonna see this…i was hoping for less human characters and more robots…course upon writing this, I’ve come upon the conclusion that maybe human characters can work in the plot but only if you don’t just saturate the movie with any particular personality or boring aspects of their lives…or mask the shitiness of certain by having a bigger group and not focusing too much any of them.

The Transformers Franchise is mediocre at best. If you are looking for over the top action, explosions, and loud noises, this is the movie for you. If you actually care about plot, characters, and good actors, this movie is not worth it. The humans seem more robotic to me then the robots. Just take it for what it is, a guilty pleasure.

I don’t think they need to reboot it, just get a director like you said, can tell a good story and have great action and effects (Cameron, Nolan, the guy who directed X-Men: FC, etc…). The way this one ended, the story can continue. I think Unicron can be introduced to resurrect Megatron and the other main Decepticons that were killed. And I hope if they do continue that the new director actually watches the cartoon to see how these guys are suppose to act.

…or it could just be that a lot of people simply want to have a GOOD trilogy of Transformers movies. This set of three by Bay relied on “bigger is better” and nostalgia, as opposed to interesting, well-done storylines and well-developed characters (human AND robot).

The explosions were cool for our ten year-old selves; the robot battles were neat-o for the same reason…the ONLY reason this last of the three deserved a 3 (some would even say 2 or 2.5…not me) instead of the .5 or 1 it ACTUALLY earned from sub-par (practically) EVERYTHING ELSE.

Now, Alan Tudyk and Frances McDormand (and several of the other actors) DID make a concerted effort to improve on that, but…oh, well.

Seems like a more logical reason for wanting to restart the series, dontcha think???

(BTW, I, myself, don’t mind if they simply continue this series, AS LONG AS they actually make it a worthwhile–GOOD–film.)